Will's First Apprentice
by JRavenTheFangirl
Summary: Alyss realizes she needs to improve her self-defense skills, so Will offers to take her on as an apprentice for a few weeks.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: It looks like I'm starting** _ **two**_ **long stories (besides DIWK; check it out if you haven't read it) to challenge myself, but I don't know how that's going to go. So I don't know how often I'll update this. Be prepared for any time ranging from two days to… two decades. I'm sorry in advance. This just a one-shot originally for my story Carefree (so much promo) but my friend and I thought it would be a fun idea if I turned it into something more. So here it is. I hope you like it. :)**

* * *

Will woke up to heavy rain that day. In the morning it fluctuated back and forth from a downpour to a light sprinkle, then finally blew east sometime in the afternoon. By the early evening, the ground was still soaked and the air was reeking with humidity. Wouldn't be fun traveling through that, Will thought, feeling sorry for Alyss.

Neither of them knew when she would get there, and with the ground so wet, maybe it would delay her even more. She told him she'd be there "whenever she finished her work", and it was kind of hard to tell when that would be. Will finished his day early so he could clean up. He lit a few candles, made sure all the sheets on his bed were washed, and checked that the flowers he had placed decoratively around the room were in full bloom, all besides the normal housekeeping.

The sun was going down and bringing with it that beautiful time between sunset and dusk, twilight. The lines of trees turned as dark as shadows, hiding under the cover of orange and pink colors that swept over the sky like brush strokes. Will was done making dinner and setting the table, and Alyss still wasn't there when the sun disappeared under the horizon.

Will knew he should be worried. No matter how he looked at it, he didn't feel like anything bad was going to happen. Maybe that was a good sign, he thought. His intuition was telling him this time that everything was fine and she was just late, so why should he be worried?

Then he laughed at himself as soon as he thought that. Alyss would probably make fun of him for being so easygoing about a potentially dangerous situation. He'd done it before. Finally, when he was done laughing at himself, he decided to trust his intuition that night until he found a reason not to. So he waited. Patiently, or not so patiently.

Then she happened to get there during the only time he was out.

Will bought too many carrots for their dinner, and instead of putting the rest away for later, he decided to give some to Tug. Will had learned to not give Tug so many snacks since his apprentice days, but once in awhile it didn't hurt.

He went out to the stables. Tug looked happy to see him, and he padded up to him excitedly. It could've been the carrots in Will's hand, though.

"Now don't get used to this," Will mumbled, rubbing and patting Tug on the neck as he ate. "You deserve something like this sometimes."

Tug nodded his head and whinnied, but not in a reply. That was a signal. Somebody was approaching the cabin, and it wasn't an enemy.

Will grinned. The quiet sound of a horse approaching the cabin reached him, but instead of running out to meet her, he ducked into the corner of darkness in the back of the stables. He got a glimpse of her riding up, just enough to know that yes, it was Alyss. His heart leapt. When she left his line of sight, he crept out of the stables.

A plan formed in his mind.

Will emerged from the stables and saw his wife climbing off her horse, and walking up the porch steps. Her hair was pulled over one shoulder, over a short cloak covering her shoulders and a white dress that reached below her knees. He recognized her outfit as the regular courier uniform, so she'd come straight from work, but she looked as beautiful as she would dressed for a banquet.

Lucky him. Will found even before this night that when he was excited, it made him even quieter. It inspired him to move faster, and shoot straighter. He used it to is advantage whenever he could, like now. Adrenaline pumped through him until he was totally in control of his body and aware of every little movement he made, every beat of his heart.

Will timed his footsteps with hers. He took larger strides than her and by the time she was on the porch, he was directly behind her, just a few yards away.

He inched closer, and closer…

Alyss sensed someone was behind her, but in not enough time to turn around. Suddenly he leaped forward and wrapped his arms around her waist, and she jumped in his arms.

"Will!" she exclaimed.

"My love." He grinned against her ear. It had been too long since he could be this close to her. The natural smell of her mixed with a little bit of perfume caressed his senses.

Alyss scoffed, finally calming herself down. Her heart was still racing. "Well that's not very fair," she said, a laugh shaping her voice. "I didn't stand a chance."

"Well, that's what you're here for, isn't it?" Will turned her around so she looked at him, holding her at the same distance as before. She smiled pointedly up at him, directly looking into his eyes. For a second it felt like they froze, like they could stop and start time at their leisure. Will wished that were the case.

"I missed you," he whispered, and Alyss didn't have to agree because she'd given him an answer. Her face was shining, overflowing with excitement; it said a thousand words more than what her lips could say. Her smile was so broad it made her face look fuller and flushed her cheeks a light red. Her eyes said 'I love you'.

But she did anyway. "I missed you, too," she said, and she cupped his face in her hands, and pulled him down to kiss him.

* * *

Will carried her bags in for her and put them in their room, even after she insisted she could do it herself. Alyss said she had waited to eat in case Will made something, so Will gestured for her to sit and they didn't waste any time starting dinner. Only then did Alyss notice the unopened bottle of wine in the middle of the table.

She smiled. Will never drank wine, or any kind of alcohol, so this was obviously for her.

He saw her take interest. "It's your favorite," he said, taking it to the counter to open and serve it.

"You went all out," Alyss said. She rested her chin on her hand, looking at the food at first, then turning her eyes up to the side of his face.

"I have to spoil you a little before I start cracking down," Will replied, a smile teasing him. "Enjoy it while it lasts." He poured her a glassful, but left his glass with just water.

With all this, Alyss almost forgot what she was there for. It felt like a date and not the start of a training camp.

Alyss was not there to flirt for three weeks and drink wine. She was there because, as good of a courier as she was, she would be even better if she had sharper self defense skills.

Pauline taught her how to use a knife, how to throw a knife, how to punch, and so on… What she had was enough for most of the situations she got into, but over time those skills had gotten a little rusty, and she knew that she had never been taught in the same minute detail that Will had.

It started when Alyss was ambushed on a mission. She survived, only because she happened to have a guard by her side, but even then it was too close of a call to consider it a win. She mentioned it to Will, and he was the one who suggested she could learn a few tricks from him. It would even be good practice for when Will got a real apprentice someday.

And then it was also an excuse to spend some time with Will. Some time, meaning three weeks. Three weeks was more than enough time for Alyss to learn some simple self-defense skills, but who needed to do the math?

"So, how has ranger life been going?" Alyss asked. Will was sitting across from her, now, and they were eating.

"It's been fine," Will said, eyes turned down to his food. "I've noticed that when you're a ranger, things are in absolute chaos or they're dead quiet. Right now it's quiet."

"It's like that for us, too. Just wait for the chaos. It's coming."

He chuckled. "Yup, I'm on the edge of my seat."

After the delicious food, they decided to talk more on the couch. Alyss took her wine glass and sat next to Will, an arm draped around her protectively. They didn't need a fire when it was summer, and Alyss got all the warmth she needed from the body next to her.

Outside, the sun had finally set, and the cabin was enshrouded in darkness. Will and Alyss were safely inside, the only things untouched by the lack of light. The windows of the cabin were the only lights within miles; rangers always had to be aware that if somebody were tracking them down, the cabin would be an obvious target during nighttime. Will kept that in mind this night, but his intuition still kept telling him that everything was fine.

At some point during dinner he mentioned his intuition to Alyss. She did just what he expected: she laughed at him. But it didn't change; nothing ever felt wrong. It was quite the opposite.

"So… what kind of things are we going to do?" Alyss asked.

"I was thinking just a little knife defense," said Will. "Knife throwing, close-quarters combat, maybe some lessons in stealth. I don't think you'll need to know archery, but we might touch on it."

Thinking about it just made Alyss more eager for the next day. She enjoyed combat more than she let on sometimes. "Sounds great," she said.

"And, you know…" Will turned his head enough to meet her eyes. "This makes you my apprentice, doesn't it? Temporarily," he added.

"Yeah, technically."

"Technical temporary apprentice."

"Yup."

"Well, I was thinking, how about you borrow my bronze oakleaf I wore as a kid?"

Her eyebrows rose. Will went on, "That, or I can get you a brand new one. When you 'graduate'," he quoted with his fingers, "I can get you your own silver oakleaf."

"Silver is for rangers," Alyss said. "I won't be a ranger when I 'graduate'," she quoted, "I'll just be really good at stabbing people."

Will laughed. "You will. And you're right, maybe we can find something in between."

"My own cloak?"

"No, that's for rangers. And don't couriers have cloaks?" he asked. She'd walked in with one that day.

"Yeah, but…" Alyss pouted, looked away and took a sip of her wine. "It's not nearly as cool as yours," she mumbled.

Will's shoulders shook with laughter. He pulled her closer with the arm draped over the edge of the couch. "When you're practicing I might give you my cloak," he said. "Just for fun."

"Thanks."

"And now that I think about it, you're gonna borrow my bronze oakleaf anyway, so why don't you just keep it after you graduate?"

Alyss stared at him like he was mad. "No, I can't do that," she said in disbelief. "That's yours. It's important to you."

"And so are you."

Alyss blushed. She tried to look away again, but enough of her didn't want to that she stayed and just scooted closer to his chest. She leaned forward, and gave him a kiss that barely missed his lips. "I love you," she said. "Still…"

"I can buy you another bronze oakleaf. I'll get it engraved."

"That sounds good."

"Good. And I love you too."

He bent his head down to kiss her again, and it lasted longer than just a moment. Will could taste a little bit of the wine on her lips, but this time he didn't mind. He even liked it. The kiss got deeper and longer and then Alyss pulled back.

"How will this work?" she asked. "I mean, when I'm training, are we still going to act like husband and wife, or do we have to be professional about it?"

She was still close enough to feel Will grinning against her cheek. "Three weeks of pretending we're not married…" Will mumbled, "that sounds terrible. No, this doesn't change a thing."

Alyss was relieved. "Good," she said, and she pushed their lips together again.

That night, Alyss understood perfectly what Will meant when he said his intuition told him everything was alright. Suddenly she wasn't worried about how stressful the training would be. She surprised herself by being, in fact, excited for it.

Alyss expected to be exhausted by the end of the day, barely able to walk, but Will knew firsthand how difficult it was so he would understand and wouldn't push her too hard. And if she couldn't walk, Will would carry her.

She went to bed that night anticipating the next day, Will's arm around her, and a bronze oakleaf laying on her chest.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey- chapter. Read, enjoy. Etc. Please review and favorite and all of that good stuff. :)**

* * *

Alyss always slept lightly. Just like Will, she needed to be on high alert every day and all the time, even- especially- when she was sleeping. She kept a dagger under her pillow every night, just in case someone snuck into her room and tried to kidnap her. It had happened before, she was sad to admit.

Alyss never tried to lose those habits- but, somewhere along the way, she learned to forget all of her training whenever Will was in the same bed.

It was more of an accident, actually. She never intended to let down her guard and give into total, complete unconsciousness when she was next to him… but she couldn't feel sorry about it. In fact, she was strangely unconcerned about it all. It might have been the effects of the sleep.

Oh well, she thought. If something happened to them at night, Will would be more likely to protect them anyway. So Alyss made no effort to change her habits. Instead she reveled in them.

The sun had just peeked its head out over their cabin. Sunlight weaved its way through the window curtain on Will's side of the bed, painting the walls a pretty color for them to wake up to. Birds chatted quietly outside.

The ceiling on the left side of the bed, where Alyss slept, suddenly bent down halfway across the room and met the other wall at an obtuse angle. It didn't turn down quite far enough to squeeze the bed, but enough to make a difference and give the room a rather abstract look to it. The curtain spread the light around the room well enough, but the imprint of the window was still there, seeable, bent by the dip in the ceiling when it was big enough.

Will woke up before she did, of course. The couple was turned on their sides towards each other, hands curled up to their chests. Only their fingertips had to touch, nothing more. At least not every night. It was just enough to remind the other that, yes, they were there. Even in dreams.

And it gave Will a beautiful angle to see her face. The curved, brown eyebrows, slightly flatter now that her eyes were closed. The contrast of pale skin against long, black eyelashes. He just had to move a little so that his vision wasn't blurred by the pillow.

And then he laid there for a while.

Watching her.

Being there…

Minutes passed and Will grudging decided to wake her up. They had too long of a day ahead of them. At first he thought about shaking her awake, then he got a better idea. He put two fingers on her shoulder and traced down her body, down her ribs, dipping in the curve in her side, then stopped at her hips, and repeated that action a few times. Finally she began to move.

Will gently took her hand in his. He rubbed the top of her hand near her wrist with his thumb, back and forth, soothingly, thinking that maybe it would help her wake up. "Good morning," he whispered.

"Good morning…" she mumbled back. Alyss nuzzled into her pillow like a cat rubbing its whiskers on something soft and purring. Will kind of wished it was him.

"Ready to work?" he asked. He let go of her hand and used his fingers to brush strands of blonde hair out of her face, and behind her ear. That was his fourth favorite thing to do in the world.

"Work?" She thought about the word like it didn't sound familiar at all. "Hm… no, not yet."

"Don't go back on what you said now."

"Well I didn't mean it… quite that literally," she said.

Will grinned. "What about our contract?"

In fact, they had a similar conversation the night before which _brought up_ the idea of a contract. Will made her sign a paper saying _"Alyss Treaty would like to be woken up at _"_ and then Alyss filled in the vague time of day "when Will does" in the space and signed her name below. Then she went back and crossed out the "at" because the sentence wouldn't make sense with it.

"That's a real contract, you know," said Will. "That means it's actually illegal for you to sleep in."

"It doesn't count when you've have alcohol."

He thought she must be referring to the wine. "You had one glass," he said. "Don't make excuses."

"Those were big glasses."

Will chuckled again as softly as if he were whispering into her ear. He pulled her a little closer and pressed his lips to her forehead… It looked like a kiss, but it wasn't quite one. He wasn't puckering his lips and kissing her, he was just touching her there. And holding her for a while until he felt like letting go.

"You weren't married when you were an apprentice," Alyss said, almost like she couldn't feel the change in atmosphere. "It's different."

"Good thing, too," he mumbled. "I'd have never gotten up." Her forehead was warm in the morning, he thought.

Will removed his lips and didn't say a word.

Her mouth was so close to him that he could feel her slow and steady breath pulsing against his neck. Suddenly conscious of his own breathing, he realized he'd been holding it for the past two minutes, and he forced himself to pick it up again.

Alyss mumbled, "Just a minute more and you can bother me until I get up."

"Or I could just… throw you out of bed."

"You probably could. Rather you not."

Will felt her body go completely limp. She decided before he did that she was going back to sleep whether he wanted her to or not.

And against his better judgement, Will knew he was going to do the same.

* * *

Five minutes later, Will finally got them out of bed and went to make breakfast while Alyss was dressing.

Obviously, it was easier to fight in pants than a dress. Couriers, unfortunately, didn't get a choice in the matter and Alyss had to learn the hardest way, but that would come later on. After they learned the material.

For now she changed into a pair of trousers she'd bought from… somewhere. She probably had her resources. Will didn't bother and just cooked breakfast in his underwear.

Alyss came out a few minutes later. She thought about scaring him, but she knew that was just a failure waiting to happen, so she didn't even try. Will was silently grateful for that. It wouldn't work, and he actually had a hot piece of iron in his hand.

She came up from behind him and moved to his side. Will felt her arm sliding around his bare shoulder, and about at the same time, the side of her head gently rubbing against his. In his hand was a frying pan where he was cooking (rather, warming up) several strips of bacon.

"Looks good," she said, looking down at the stove.

Will's smile was involuntary. "Thanks," he replied. "Would you like coffee? No, of course you would, you're a ranger's apprentice now."

"I didn't mean the bacon." Alyss pressed her lips to the underside of his jaw.

Will's grin expanded. His shoulders shook with a silent laugh that never made its way out of his lips.

"And yes," she murmured, "I would like coffee."

"Good. You've passed the first test."

Will had prepared the bacon the day before, thinking it wouldn't take him that long to warm it up and they could get to work quickly. The only thing he had to do was cook the eggs.

But for some reason the frying pan was feeling unusually insulative that day, so what should've taken one or two minutes at the most was beginning to look more like five. He could've done it faster, but he was worried that if he turned up the fire any more it might burn the food.

Alyss offered to cook the eggs instead to hurry the process. Will let her. She was almost as good of a chef as he was.

She glared at her husband when he said that. "You mean _way_ better," she corrected.

Will flashed his kindest smile. "Of course, dear," he said, as he flipped the bacon perfectly in his pan just to show off.

Alyss wasn't sure if bacon was meant to be flipped like a pancake or turned over individually… but asking him about it would be as good as admitting she didn't know, so she turned away and said nothing.

Will finished heating up the bacon minutes before she was done. He set all the pieces on a plate for them to eat later, all but one. That one he broke in half, ate one half, then held the tip of the other a few inches from his wife's lips.

Alyss looked from the bacon to him, back to the bacon, and grinned. She bit a piece off the tip, and Will fed her the rest like that.

Soon enough the eggs were done, too. They didn't ever move to the dining table, no, they weren't conventional like that. Instead they ate their breakfast sitting on the counter. Somehow it was cuter. And easier. And ironically, more convenient.

They talked and laughed the morning away. Literally. Until they looked out the window and realized that the morning mist lingering hovering the trees had disappeared and that it was suddenly close to _noon._

They joked about it, but Will didn't let it go. What kind of ranger spends his morning eating bacon and eggs in his underwear instead of teaching his apprentice how to defend herself? What a great mentor he was, he thought.

He promised himself and Alyss that _tomorrow_ they would get serious… But he knew by the cute, we-both-know-that's-not-what's-going-to-happen smile on her face that she didn't really believe him. He vowed to prove her and her smile wrong.

Will still went on the lesson as planned. From noon until lunch he taught her the simple version of how to swing a knife and how to fight one-on-one; in the later afternoon it was all about knife throwing.

She took to it all really quickly, but when Will mentioned it, she reminded him that she actually _did_ know some stuff about knife fighting or else she would be dead by now.

"It's okay," she said. "I need this for when we move on to the tough stuff later." She smiled.

"That rhymes," he said.

She sighed. "Yes, dear."

They went for a walk and ate an early dinner. When they went to bed, Will had a plan in mind.

And he was kind of excited to put it into action, too.

Then it was morning.

* * *

Alyss was sleeping well. Really well.

Maybe it was the forest. She always found it so easy to sleep in a place surrounded with nothing but natural life. It wasn't as deep as the day before, but still deeper than what she normally had.

It had been too long since she felt this… healthy. Just within a day of being here, the wounds of years and years of work were starting to heal in a remarkable amount of time. It was like taking a long shower after days of going without one. She didn't even notice when Will woke up early and slipped out the door.

She was having a nice dream about her and Will's old orphanage, but a version where all the walls were purple and none of the furniture existed. Somehow nobody was confused at this, even her. Being with Will must've put the orphanage in her mind… and she could only hope that the rest was just ridiculousness.

Today Alyss slept on her stomach. She'd twisted her face just enough to breathe and not face plant into her pillow. Her back rose and fell every few seconds with each breath, so quietly that she looked like a sleeping angel.

A sleeping angel…

Then Will burst in. The door flew open so violently the doorknob slammed into the wall, and he walked in throwing two frying pans against each other to make one of the loudest sounds ever known to man, third only to a volcanic eruption and the call of an angry blue whale.

"Wake up, wake up!" he yelled. "Time to wake up!"

Alyss's body jumped like she'd been struck by lightning. She turned over and backed up against the headboard, clutching the blanket to her bare chest. If she'd screamed, they wouldn't have been able to hear it over the constant banging of the two frying pans and Will's voice struggling to yell over it:

"Wakey wakey, eggs and exercise!"

"Will!" she yelled. "What the hell?!"

Will stopped banging the frying pans and let the sound slowly dissolve from the air. Their ears rang. "I told you we were going to start the day early today," he told her. "This is not a vacation."

"It's earlier than yesterday…"

"I know. Now get up!" He turned back to his loud voice and resumed knocking the pans together. "Get up, get up, get up!"

"Fine, fine!" Alyss yelled. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed. "I will, just let me-!"

"Ten laps around the cabin!"

"What?!"

"You heard me! Ten laps!" he demanded.

"Tyrant!"

"Get dressed, get on your shoes and give me ten laps around the cabin, no stopping!"

She scrambled to untangle herself from the sheets and get her clothes on, or else Will wouldn't stop making those obnoxious sounds, and he hurried her out the door.

Alyss was beginning to hate running. By the second lap her legs felt like a hundred pounds. Each.

Fortunately, Will was nice enough to give her some encouragement every time she rounded the front door.

"Seven more to go!" he yelled. "Pick your knees up! Take bigger steps!" He was sat in a chair on the porch, sipping coffee and probably enjoying his life a little too much.

Alyss quickly learned to pace herself and shoot for completion of the task rather than doing it within a time limit.

Around the seventh lap she was ready to collapse down on the grass and never get up. Then she remembered something: she was Alyss Treaty- formerly Alyss Mainwaring. If she couldn't run ten laps around a cabin first thing in the morning, then what _could_ she do? She was fit enough for this… she just wasn't in the right mindset.

But dammit, she thought, I'm going to do this. I'm a ranger's apprentice now.

She shifted her weight onto the balls of her feet and steadied her breathing. It was difficult when her lungs were begging for as much oxygen as they could possibly get, but in time they too adjusted. She moved her thoughts from the pain in her feet to the things around her. She needed to distract herself.

It was beautiful out there in the morning.

A few minutes passed, and Alyss finished her tenth lap successfully. She was panting harder than ever. Her legs wouldn't support her, so she took a tight hold of the deck post and hoped Will would let her off the hook a little.

Said ranger arrived next to her with a half empty cup of coffee in his hand and a stern frown on his face. If Alyss was blind in one eye and hadn't had any context to go with it she might've thought that was Halt there. She almost laughed. Almost.

"Good job," Will said. Then immediately he continued, "Now get on the floor and give me thirty push ups."

Alyss sighed.

"Well, get to it."

Grudgingly, but without a complaint, she bent down and got on her hands and feet. She didn't look up at Will again because that would involve turning her neck in an awkward way, and that required effort. Rather, she needed to conserve her energy so that she could live. Her knee came up from the ground when she finally began her task.

Alyss didn't count out loud. She only said every fifth number to let Will know she was paying attention. Will was counting too in case she forgot, but she never did.

Halfway through he decided his apprentice was slacking. "Further," he said, and put her foot on her back and pushed her.

She nearly fell, but no sound came from her mouth. Earlier Alyss had taken a silent vow that she wouldn't say a single word of complaint to him, even if her muscles were screaming. She refused to give him the satisfaction. There was only a half second of hesitation before Alyss continued as she had been.

Will finally took his foot off after eight more pushups. Through sweat, fatigue, and several close calls, she successfully did her thirty without falling once. When she finished she stood herself back up and faked strength.

But even though she was faking the ability to stand up straight and continue on with her life, Alyss couldn't fake any distress, or even mental exhaustion. She was tired, but it was all physical.

If anything, she felt even stronger.

Maybe this was the gratification after a good workout Will was telling her about, she thought. It was one of the reasons why rangers didn't mind working all the time. They loved that burst of pride they got after running a mile longer than they usually did, or hitting the bullseye of the target one more time than the day before.

It was no worse or better than the gratification she got from her work. The only difference was the way they went about obtaining it.

Suddenly Alyss was beginning to understand the rangers.

Will gave her a simple "Not bad", and the rest was written all over his face for her to see if she looked hard enough.

He led her back inside for her next job: the chores.

Yes, the chores, Will remembered fondly. This was really taking Will back to his old apprentice days, only this time he was on the outside of the window looking in, giving the orders instead of taking. And it was his wife, so it was a little different.

But he had to visit Halt sometime and apologize for being angry about it when he was an apprentice because this was fun as hell.

She was done about the time Will had finished his morning paperwork. Finally, they had breakfast. Alyss took one bite of her eggs… and then let her head fall flat against the table.

"You look a little drowsy," Will commented.

She said, "I'm just not used to this kind of work early in the morning. It's not that I'm unfit, but I'm not like you." She paused to breathe. "Want me to negotiate a peace treaty between two warring countries and I can do that, no problem."

Will chuckled. "You'll get used to it."

"Thanks."

* * *

The real lessons began after breakfast.

Will took everything he said yesterday a step farther. They began with one-on-one fighting. She'd remembered most of the information pretty well- mainly the differences between the forward and reverse grips and what they looked like, which fed directly into what he would teach her today.

Now he put what she knew into action, all while telling her some of the differences between _more_ grips that were like subcategories of the two 'forward' and 'reverse'. Alyss remembered it much easier than Will had when he was an apprentice.

They practiced on an old, wooden dummy that neither one of them could tell the sex of.

"What's going to happen," Will said, "is I'm going to call out a grip, and you'll strike the dummy wherever you want holding the knife like that. You have to be quick." He stood a few feet away from where she was ready, arms crossed but relaxed, leaning on one hip while he watched her.

"How am I going to switch in and out of them so fast?"

"That's the trick." Will grinned. "It's part of the memorization. Twirl the knife around your hand like you do a baton."

Alyss hesitated. "What if I've never held a baton?"

"Twirling a baton is easy- it's like twirling a knife around your fingers."

"Yeah, okay."

Will laughed, but he held out his hand for her knife, and after a second she gave it to him. "Here, I'll show you," he said, and he gave her a short lesson on how to switch grips.

She hadn't gotten the hang of it by the time they moved on to the androgynous dummy fighting, but sometimes Will believed in the method of "learning on the job", as he put it. Alyss mumbled something about "rangers" and "going into life or death situations without a plan". He ignored her.

Next he asked to see how her knife throwing was coming along.

She was doing exceptionally well for their second day. He only needed to correct some normal things, like her wrist movement, stance, and the rotation of the knife when she threw it. For now they would begin with the half rotation throw, the first one Will was taught.

It was easier when they were only learning two skills. Archery could be a bonus lesson if they had time, but it wasn't necessary. Usually if Alyss needed to shoot something that she couldn't hit with a knife she would have a guard around to do that for her.

Will smiled when he came to think of her training that way. Like a schedule. It wasn't something he knew should make him so happy, but he couldn't help but feel a little… validated. He could think of himself like a real mentor now. A real mentor. The idea sounded even better in practice than it had in his head.

Yeah, he could do this for five years.

Even if it was just three weeks with Alyss, it _would_ be several years eventually, with someone. If he was ever unsure he could be a teacher for that long… well, Alyss extinguished all of those fears within their first week.

Their second day ended like that.


	3. Chapter 3

**Day Five**

"Can you go into town today?"

It was the late morning. Alyss turned from where she was washing their breakfast plates to face Will, approaching her after just walking in the door.

"I don't know why I'm asking," he said, coming to her side. "You're my apprentice. You have to do what I say."

A smile teased the ends of Alyss's mouth; she set down the plate in her hand to talk to him. "Well, thanks anyway. What do we need?"

"Your oakleaf necklace should be ready to pick up… Then anything else you see that looks good- maybe, hm, I don't know," he shrugged and looked away, "a pie, for instance, that would be fine."

The apprentice chuckled. "Okay, got it."

"Great."

"Will the jewelers let me take it?" she asked.

"They-"

"The necklace, not the pie," Alyss added.

"Right," Will said, and grinned. He reached around her for the plate on the counter. "My name should be enough," said the ranger, rolling up his sleeves as he talked. "They'll recognize you as my wife, anyway- everybody knows us." He took a towel lying next to him and started drying the wet plate.

"That's true," Alyss said, watching his hands. "Thanks."

Will nodded as if to accept her gratitude but also brush it off. "Just in case, I'll write you a note saying that I sent you."

"Okay." They finished the rest of the plates together. She left a few minutes later.

* * *

The first time Alyss dropped by the bakery, there was nobody there. The open sign hung in the door for anybody to see, but there was no sign of the owner or anybody else inside, despite it being well close to noon. She went to the jewelry store first, where her necklace was ready when she got there. Will's note was enough to sign off for it.

She only saw it once before they put it in the box, and as tempted as she was to take it out, there was just as much desire to not look at it. Having earned it by the end of her training would be even more meaningful than admiring it now.

When she returned to the bakery, there were several more people inside, including who she knew to be the owner.

She pushed open the door, but not far enough to ring the entrance bell before a familiar voice came from behind her-

"Alyss?"

Alyss nearly recognized the girl by her voice, but definitely by her face. "Rossa… Good afternoon," she greeted the young courier. She had graduated from her apprenticeship just earlier that year. Alyss sometimes acted like an older sister to her whenever Rossa needed help and her old mentor wasn't around.

"Good afternoon," Rossa replied, same smile on her face. "Doing some shopping on your time off?"

"Only things Will and I need, but yes."

Rossa's eyes shifted to the box, right as Alyss was about to point it out. From her point of view it might look like an engagement ring.

"Jewelry?" the young courier asked, luckily not assuming it to be an engagement ring.

"An oakleaf necklace."

Rossa stared at her oddly, and Alyss understood how that might be taken the wrong way. "A bronze one," she added, and realized that didn't make it any better.

But Rossa just grinned. One could've thought "Rose" was a nickname to describe how her cheeks grew a faint, rose red when she was smiling. Or for her brownish red hair, which imitated a dark rose in the right light. "You're joining the Ranger Corps now?" she laughed. "You traitor."

Alyss laughed along with her. "I know, nobody saw it coming…" she said, "but it's where I belong now."

Then an idea hit her from out of nowhere, like an arrow out of the blue. Maybe it was the oakleaf talking to her from in the box. Whatever it was, it convinced her to immediately carry out her new plan:

"But… seriously." She swallowed and looked quickly at the floor before turning her eyes back to Rossa, solemn. "Tell Pauline and everyone else I'm sorry."

There was a quick pause. "Wait," said Rossa, her smile gone as soon as she saw the change in Alyss's attitude, "you're- you're not joking?"

Alyss smiled sadly. One foot was rooted in reality and the other stretched to see just how far she could take this. To her advantage, Alyss was, at heart, a realist.

Rossa blinked. "That's absurd." She was also a realist.

"Actually, no. Sorry. I thought- I haven't told anybody else yet, I knew they'd try to convince me to stay. I was planning on breaking the news next week."

Rossa's shoulders relaxed. She said, "Oh, wow… Okay. What brought this on-" She snapped to attention suddenly. "No, you're messing with me."

"No, I'm not!" Alyss said, exasperated. "Is it too hard to imagine I want to be closer to my husband?"

Rossa could see the logic in that, but Alyss knew it would take a little more to trick her. She was young, and witty, but she respected her higher ups enough to trust most of everything they said.

"I think I've given lots of my time to the Diplomatic Corps, and now it's time for me to be here. I haven't explored this side of myself yet, the one that could potentially be like Will. Not that I didn't love being a courier, I did. I felt like I belonged… but I belong here, too." Alyss sighed. It was a struggle to get the words out. "I mean… I know I'll be the first woman ranger. It'll be hard, but they already have so much respect for me, I think they'll accept me. And I'm going to prove to them I can be just as good as them even if Will is my mentor." She paused. "He offered to come here instead to make things simpler, but I'm his apprentice now. It's my job."

Rossa stared at Alyss not like she thought she was lying, but like she didn't want to believe her. "This is… Wow," she said. "Really unexpected…"

"I know. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to tell you like this."

"No, it's okay," Rossa said, no longer angry. She just looked disappointed. "It doesn't matter, I'll just miss you."

"I'll miss you, too."

It occurred suddenly- a little too late- to Alyss that she hadn't thought her plan through quite this far.

"I'll keep it a secret if you want me to," Rossa told her. "Of course, though, I'm willing to break the news to them for you."

Then Alyss knew exactly what she was going to do. She grinned, even if it was a point against her. "Could you?" she asked. "Sorry, I just don't know how to tell them."

Rossa smiled and nodded. "Don't worry about it."

Alyss laughed, but it was a laugh of joy, and one of relief. She thanked Pauline and the rest of the Corps for teaching her how to act. Instead of saying yes, Alyss stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Rossa. "Thank you," she said. She even teared up.

Rossa hugged back. "Anything for you, my lady."

After Rossa left, Alyss dropped her act and wore instead a proud smile on her face. Proud of what, she didn't know. A joke like that could become a serious issue if taken too far… Her comfort was the logic that Pauline would never believe a story like that. If she told Pauline it would get her the same reaction as it did Rossa, initially.

Rossa left, to go tell people of Alyss's resignation and probably for some other business. Eventually Alyss forgot about their conversation when her mind became occupied with more important things, like pie.

She returned to the cabin not long after noon, with pie, a necklace, and some things she thought they could use for dinner.

She returned to a very unhappy Will.

Alyss paused at the sight: he was sitting one of the breakfast chairs, waiting for her, the chair carefully angled to face her when she walked in. He looked either like a wife waiting for her cheating husband to get home or a villain whose victim had just fallen 'right into his trap'. His silence suggested the latter, while his eyes told the first story.

She greeted him carefully, "Hi…" and walked to set everything on the table in front of him. "I got everything, the pie and the necklace- plus some tomatoes I thought we could use, in case we don't have enough tonight." She held up the box containing the necklace and placed it closer.

He didn't move. Alyss stared expectantly.

"You look happy," she commented.

"I am," Will said, tone unreadable. "Crowley came and decided to pay me a visit while you were out."

"Really?"

"Yes. He was pretty happy as well. You see, he had talked to Pauline earlier. And Pauline said something interesting- she was happy, too."

Alyss's face fell. "Oh…" she whispered. "I've- I've only been gone an hour, how...?"

Contradicting his general tone, he smiled, and it wasn't insincere. "Apparently you're a ranger now?" he asked.

His mood now was strangely warm; Alyss laughed to match it. "I thought it would be funny at the time," she said. "I thought Pauline wouldn't take it seriously, though, knowing me… let alone tell Crowley. I've only been gone an hour."

"Word spreads fast around here."

"So it does."

Will opened the box in front of him and admired the pendant, the way some patches of the leaf sparkled when he held it up to the light. Several parts shined and the rest was dull, like the rock it had been carved from was of poor quality. That was intentional. It was meant to give power, not glamor. It was more than jewelry, it was a statement.

Will stood up. "You have pulled your first prank," he said, shining with mentor-like pride. "Not only that, but you tricked a good part of the Diplomatic Corps and the head of the Ranger Corps into believing you."

Alyss paled. "They really thought I was serious?" she said.

"You have truly proved your potential, and I couldn't be more proud to present to you… your bronze oakleaf."

"This is a shallow victory," she sighed.

Will ignored her. "Turn around please."

"I thought I wasn't going to get it until I graduate?"

"There's no better time than now, just accept it already."

Alyss turned around like he asked, still pretty preoccupied with all her worries. She pulled her hair up. Will reached around and strung the necklace around her, the pendant settling just on her collarbone and falling farther when he had fastened it behind her neck and let it go. She was smiling by the time he finished, and dropped her hair.

Will pressed a warm kiss to the top of her head. "Congratulations," he murmured.

"How angry was Crowley?" she asked.

"Pretty angry."

"Tell him I'm sorry."

"You can tell him when he comes back," he said. "I told him to come back with the official resignation papers."

Alyss spun around and stared at him. "You didn't tell him?!"

"Of course not. It was hilarious," Will grinned.

Alyss could only imagine how Pauline would greet her when she came back… Her chin fell against her chest; she stared down at the floor and the brand new bronze oakleaf resting on her blouse. It felt cold against the shirt's thin fabric.

"It's pretty, anyway," she mumbled.

"Just like you."

"Oh, don't."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: This chapter was originally written for my other fanfic Carefree, and where I got the idea for this fic. It's a little different, essentially everything is still there. Check out the original chapter- it's much worse.**

* * *

 **Day Eight**

Alyss's warmup had just finished, and they started the morning lesson.

"Going to teach me how to kill a man with one move?" she joked, setting her warmup knives on the porch. Will told her they would only need one for this lesson, and that was his.

The ranger snorted. "I wish," he said. "No, but it's very important. It can get frustrating at first, but once you get the hang of it, it could save your life."

Alyss nodded. "Alright… What is it?" she asked.

"Say… say you're attacking me. You can target the middle, the right, or the left, right?" he explained. "Let's make it simple and forget about all the different heights you can aim for. Three options; then when you're defending you have two: dodge, or block."

"Three, if you count getting hit," she pointed out.

Will took a moment to consider it. "Well, yeah. For the sake of the lesson let's say you're so confident in yourself that getting hit isn't even an option." He went on, grinning, "So if somebody attacks your left side, it's not very smart to go left to dodge it. And vice versa- if somebody goes for your right side, don't move into the attack. It sounds simple, but if you don't have enough time to work out which direction they're going in, or they trick you, or if they're good at concealing it up until the last second… well, you're dead."

"I see. So you're going to teach me… when to move right and when to move left?"

"Yes, but I'm also going to build up your instinct," Will explained. "I know how fast of a thinker you are, Alyss, but sometimes that's not enough. What you need is to listen to what your gut says, and you need to learn how to trust it. Knife fighting, really any kind of fighting is a careful balance of intelligence and instinct. So this is an exercise in avoiding attacks, but at its core, instinct."

Alyss nodded. "Okay," she said. "I've got it."

"Then let's begin."

The courier chuckled; he'd sounded a lot like Halt just then.

* * *

"Stand still for now. Be ready for any attack I throw."

Alyss did as he said.

She watched him for a sign of when he was going to attack, but it was near impossible to read him. He was studying her too, stretching her focus like a guitar string and plucking it to test how strong it was. She held her ground well until suddenly Will whisked the knife out of his belt, and cut to her left shoulder. He was quick to find his weapon, but in attacking her, slowed down twice as much. It gave her just enough time to predict where he would go. Alyss jerked to the right and the knife missed her.

"Don't be so tense," Will told her, as they reset their positions. "Relax your muscles and you'll move much smoother and quicker."

"Okay." She exhaled and tried to rid herself of her nerves.

Any other person would have stopped their knife a foot away when practicing, but Alyss knew Will was better than that.

A few days ago it came up where Alyss asked him to prove just how much control he had. He did. With her permission he threw a punch at her stomach, one so strong and quick it looked like it was going to hit her, but he stopped it with just a millimeter in between them. It was terrifying at first, but she couldn't complain. She was the one who asked. And she had total faith in his abilities, now, but that also meant she wasn't taking any chances during practice.

That's why, when he swung at her the second time, she waited as long as her mind would allow her before she sprang into action. She twisted her body to the left with just a foot in between her and his knife. Anybody else would've stopped that far away from her, but Will trusted her to move just as much as Alyss trusted him not to hit her.

He pulled back, an approving look in his eyes.

"Good," Will told her. "You moved at the right time. The later you move, the harder it is for your opponent to change direction. Now I'm going to attack faster."

He did just that. The third time, Will came in with a swinging down motion directed at the center of her body, only changing course at the last moment so that she had no idea where he was going to target her until he wanted to show her. There was no time to sort it out, so she was almost forced to choose before she was even given her odds.

Alyss remembered his words from before, though, about instinct over intelligence, and she listened instead to her gut for the answer. Her gut said left, and she moved left. Unfortunately, her gut was still wrong.

Alyss pulled, or shrunk away from the blade that'd stopped right before it hit her. She muttered a curse under her breath.

Will smiled. "Don't get discouraged. I didn't even get it on my first try. It was hilarious, because the second time, Halt was moved even slower than before and I still ran into the attack. You should've seen his face."

Alyss couldn't help but laugh.

Just as Will told her, Alyss cut herself some slack. He came at her again, to the right side this time, but she still moved in the wrong direction.

Will slowed noticeably down for the next one, and Alyss couldn't help but be a little angry at him. Not even mildly irritated, just angry.

Even as she told herself, though, that she would get better so Will wouldn't have to spoon feed her, she felt her body stiffening harder. Thinking was like wading through mud; she ran straight into the attack every time he swung at her. Inevitably, this only made her more frustrated and stiff, and she found herself caught in a vicious cycle that didn't break until Will noticed it happening.

He finally stopped after the sixth or seventh time. "Alyss…" he began, but didn't get further before she interrupted him.

"Dammit. I'm sorry; I'll get it this time." Will stepped out of his fighting stance as Alyss was getting more serious. He could see the obvious strain and aggravation on her face.

"Alyss-"

"Do it again."

"No, I'll wait." Will tucked his knife into his belt. He said, "Relax a little, then you'll-"

"I don't need to."

"Stop interrupti-"

"I'm not a child, I can get this." Alyss looked at him angrily, but Will knew she wasn't angry at him. "Don't slow down for me, okay?" she snapped.

"Don't get frustrated," Will told her. Even when he went in the opposite direction of her and used a calmer tone to counteract her bitter one, the feeling didn't rub off on her. "Instinct isn't something you can learn in an afternoon."

"But I-!"

"Don't interrupt me, just listen." Will took two strides forward and took hold of her shoulders. He held her so she was forced to look at him, or glare. "You can do this, I know you can," he said firmly. "But if you get frustrated, you're going to sabotage yourself and I can assure you, you won't understand it that way. You know it's not just about mastering the technique. It's about what you learn along the way, which means it's also about the mistakes."

Alyss was silent in the few seconds that Will gave her to respond, but he could see her anger eroding away.

"I'm trying to relax," she said.

Will looked seriously into her eyes, and said, "Then take a break, and try again. The only way this is going to work is if you let yourself mess up first."

Alyss suddenly looked embarrassed. She had said before she wasn't a child… but this entire rant made her look like a toddler. "Okay," she said.

Will saw this look of dense shame on her, but he decided to let her sort it out herself. "Ready?" he asked, knife out again.

The courier didn't answer yet. She was wondering if she was honestly cut out to be learning self-defense if she couldn't go one lesson of this without exploding. But in that small span of two seconds where she hesitated to reply, she found the answer. 'The only way this is going to work is if you let yourself mess up first.'

And Alyss felt those words sink in deeper than they had the first time. Whether her rant was childish or not… it didn't matter anymore. It was funny how sometimes the answer was so clear to her, and something that should be easier to sincerely believe took twice as much time to sink in.

Alyss's shoulders dropped. The tension she had stored in her body left like steam escaping a lake. She comforted herself again with what Will had said before, just until she could comfort herself with her own words. 'You can do this, I know you can.'

"Ready," she replied.

Will launched himself at her, going the same speed he had been going before they argued; she dodged the knife extra early. Instead of waiting until he was a foot away she listened to her natural instinct and moved as soon as it told her to, like a puppeteer jerking on her strings. But as she expected the blade to stop inches away from her again, she watched it sail next to her in the opposite direction, slicing through the air as quickly as if Will had had every intention to hit her.

She grinned, despite her better judgement to stay completely serious. The next move burst out of her; she threw her arm around the front of Will's neck and pulled him back into a headlock. He was trapped before he knew it, with no way out.

"A-Alyss-!" Will laughed, struggling to get away. "You-!"

"You said this was a life or death situation. It is, now," she said.

"Have mercy on me! Please, I have so much to live for," he cried.

"Your time's over, Ranger Will." She tensed up, to pull him closer to her and planted a heavy kiss on his cheek. "You're dead."

"Damn." He chuckled, cheeks a light red, fortunately not from being choked but from smiling so much.

Then suddenly she was serious again. She loosened her grip on him enough for him to slip out if he tried, but he didn't try. She whispered into his ear, "Hey… did I ever tell you you're going to be a great mentor?"

In the same volume Will whispered back, "Did I ever tell you you would be a great ranger?"

Will turned his head far enough around to give her a proper kiss on the lips. She melted into it, leaned farther over his shoulder to deepen it. The angle was awkward because Will's back was still against her, but they stayed there and kissed until it didn't feel awkward anymore. If nothing else would relax her, and rid her of all her nerves, that did.

Then their practice resumed.


End file.
